342 BOOKS AND IMAGES. 



All of them could read and write with ease. I examined 

 the books they possessed, and found a small work on 

 medicine, a small cyclopaedia, and a Portuguese dictionary, 

 in which the definition of a " priest " seemed strange to a 

 Protestant, namely, " one who takes care of the con- 

 science ! " They had also a few tracts containing the 

 Lives of the Saints, and Cypriano had three small wax 

 images of saints in his room. One of these was St. Anthony, 

 who, had he endured the privations he did in his cell in 

 looking after these lost sheep, would have lived to better 

 purpose. Neither Cypriano nor his companions knew 

 what the Bible was, but they had relics in German silver 

 cases hung round their necks, to act as charms and save 

 them from danger by land or by water, in the same way 

 as the heathen have medicines. It is a pity that the 

 church to which they belong, when unable to attend to 

 the wants of her children, does not give them the sacred 

 writings in their own tongue ; it would surely be better 

 to see them good Protestants, if these would lead them to 

 "be so, than entirely ignorant of God's message to man. 

 For my part, I would much prefer to see the Africans good 

 Roman Catholics, than idolatrous heathen. 



Much of the civility shown to us here was, no doubt, 

 owing to the flattering letters of recommendation I carried 

 from the Chevalier Du Prat, of Cape Town ; but I am 

 inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano was influenced 

 too by feelings of genuine kindness, for he quite bared his 

 garden in feeding us during the few days which I remained, 

 anxiously expecting the clouds to disperse, so far as to 

 allow of my taking observations for the determination of 

 the position of the Quango. He slaughtered an ox for us, 

 and furnished his mother and her maids with manioc- 

 roots, to prepare farina for the four or five days of our 

 journey to Cassange, and never even hinted at payment. 

 My wretched appearance must have excited his com- 

 passion. The farina is prepared by washing the roots well, 

 then rasping them down to a pulp. Next, this is roasted 

 slightly on a metal plate over a fire, and is then used with 

 meat as a vegetable. It closely resembles wood sawings, 

 and on that account is named " wood-meal." It is 

 insipid, and employed to lick up any gravy remaining on 

 one's plate. Those who have become accustomed to it, 

 relish it even after they have returned to Europe. 



The manioc cultivated here is of the sweet variety : the 



